Ireland squad named for Six Nations

We're backing these lads to get off to a flyer.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has named his extended squad of 36 for the 2018 Six Nations. The squad was announced by the IRFU this afternoon (in the comments section of their Facebook page) and Schmidt will select his matchday 23s for the opening games against France and Italy from the men included. Rory Scannel and Fergus McFadden are included whilst the uncapped Jordan Larmour has been called up to. THE SQUAD FORWARDS (20) Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) c 106 caps Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 5 caps Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 56 caps Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 11 caps Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 19 caps Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 73 caps Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 34 caps Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 3 cap Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 22 caps Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps Jack McGrath (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 42 caps Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 18 caps Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 42 caps Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 3 caps Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 3 caps James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 11 caps CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 18 caps Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 53 caps Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 9 caps BACKS (16) Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 2 caps Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 6 caps Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 6 caps Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 62 caps Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 2 caps Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 31 caps Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 78 caps Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster) 7 caps Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 18 caps Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 32 caps Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6 caps Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 59 caps Johnny Sexton (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 68 caps Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 3 caps Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 4 caps Not considered due to injury are Jamie Heaslip, Jared Payne, Luke Marshall, Garry Ringrose, Sean O'Brien and Adam Byrne. The uncapped but Irish qualified Tyler Bleyendaal is still recovering from a neck injury. France head coach Jacques Brunel also named his Six Nations squad, this afternoon, with Mathieu Bastareaud of Toulon included. The Toulon centre was then banned for three weeks following a homophobic comment made in last Sunday's Champions Cup clash with Benetton Treviso. His place in the squad was taken by Jonathan Danty of Stade Francais. https://twitter.com/FFRugby/status/953612607520428032 Ireland kick off their championship against France on Saturday, February 3.